SENATOR RAND PAUL: “Tragedy in Israel It’s time to end aid to the Palestinian Authority” – click to read

from National Review online:

This week, three young boys were buried in Israel. The victims of kidnapping, they had been murdered by terrorists from Hamas.

The boys, Eyal Yifrach, 19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frenkel, a 16-year-old dual U.S.–Israeli citizen, were like any other children — their lives ready to be lived, their dreams ahead of them. They grew up in a nation that was at war but desperately wanted peace.

It is a peace they did not live to see, nor will others their age if action is not taken.

The Obama administration responded with its condolences to the families and to the state of Israel, as well it should have. But it also called, as it always does in situations like this, for restraint on the part of Israel.

How many times must Israel hear this call? Children are murdered — please show restraint. Cafés and buses are bombed — please show restraint. Towns are victimized by hundreds of rockets — please show restraint while you bury your dead once again.

I think it is clear by now: Israel has shown remarkable restraint. It possesses a military with clear superiority over that of its Palestinian neighbors, yet it does not respond to threat after threat, provocation after provocation, with the type of force that would decisively end their conflict.

But sometimes restraint can work against you. Sometimes you just have to say, enough is enough.

Nearly six weeks ago, I proposed a bill called the “Stand With Israel Act.” Its purpose was to cut off the flow of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority if it allied with Hamas — the same Hamas that just murdered these three teenagers.

So let’s be clear: U.S. taxpayer money may soon be going to an entity kidnapping and murdering Israeli and U.S. children.